North Atlantic Council travels to Georgia and meets with Georgian Prime Minister

The North Atlantic Council travelled to the Georgian capital Tbilisi on 9 November 2011 in order to assess the NATO-Georgia partnership and to identify priorities for further work. During the visit, the North Atlantic Council met with Georgian Prime Minister Nika Gilauri and other members of his cabinet for a session of the NATO-Georgia Commission (NGC).

The NATO-Georgia commission was inaugurated when the NATO Council last visited Tbilisi three years ago. At the Bucharest summit in 2008, Allies agreed that Georgia will become a member of NATO.

"That decision by our Alliance remains firm," said the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "Since our Bucharest summit, Georgia has come a lot closer to NATO. But there is still work to be done, in a number of areas. Further reform will be Georgia's ticket to membership. And NATO is here to help."

NATO ambassadors stressed the importance of maintaining the momentum in electoral reform and upholding democratic principles to ensure free, fair and inclusive elections and encouraged Georgia to continue to strengthen the rule of law.

“Georgia has come a long way by promoting freedom of expression and economic growth, fighting corruption, and ensuring that the military is properly sized and structured”, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. "Your efforts have been impressive. Georgia is on the right track. And you have come a long way."

NATO Allies also thanked Georgia for the continued steadfast contribution to NATO operations and for its role as the the second-largest non-NATO contributor to ISAF.

During the visit, the North Atlantic Council will also meet wtih Georgia’s political leaders, parliamentarians and civil society members. On Thursday, 11 November, the NAC will meet with President Mikheil Saakashvili in the port city of Batumi.